Ohio Elections Results: Amy Acton Elected Governor. Sherrod Brown Wins. Issue 3 Passes

More than 1.7 million Ohioans voted before polls opened Tuesday, breaking the state's early-voting record for a governor's year. About 1.1 million cast ballots in person at county boards of elections, along with more than 630,000 mail-in ballots, were back as of Sunday — roughly 86% of those requested. Cuyahoga County led the state in early voters. "Ohioans crushed the 2022 early voting record," Secretary of State Frank LaRose said.

Mail requests actually fell sharply, from about 1 million in 2022 to roughly 730,000 this year. The record came from in-person early voting, not the mail. If the night turns on late-counted mail ballots, that's the number to reach for.

Here's how the night went. 

GOVERNOR

Amy Acton is the first woman to be elected Ohio's governor and the first Democrat to hold the office in 16 years. The physician who ran Ohio's pandemic response — and left the job in 2020 after protesters gathered outside her home — turned that visibility into the party's best statewide showing since Sherrod Brown's last Senate win. She beat Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur and former presidential candidate who had Donald Trump's endorsement and a double-digit financial edge for much of the race.

U.S. SENATE

Sherrod Brown is going back to the Senate. Two years after Bernie Moreno ended his 18-year run, the Democrat reclaimed a seat in the chamber — this one belonging to Jon Husted, appointed to fill JD Vance's unexpired term and asking Ohio voters to ratify the choice for the first time. Brown ran on affordability, the same economic argument that carried him through three terms in a state that has otherwise moved steadily away from his party.

ISSUE 3

Ohio voters wrote the state's photo ID requirement into the constitution. Issue 3 changes nothing at the polls tomorrow — Ohio has required photo ID for in-person voting since a 2023 law — but it moves that requirement out of the legislature's reach, where it could be undone by a simple majority, and into a document only voters can amend. Republican lawmakers put it on the ballot in June. Amy Acton supported it, too.

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